Zoe Mulford: Postcards (Blog)

Sometimes the audience is sparse. It happens. It can be the result of poor publicity, bad weather, gorgeous weather, flu season, sports events, holidays - or, as in Provincetown, simply the result of playing at a weird time of year in an area where people don’t know you.

It is first thing Thursday morning and my borrowed iPhone chimes. "Lorelei Loveridge has tagged a picture of you on Facebook." I am in Scotland for five days singing backup in Lorelei's band, with several gigs in Edinburgh and one in Cromarty (out on the tip of a peninsula in the Firth of Forth.) It's been going well. The venues have been great and the people have been tremendously kind and welcoming.
Lorelei puts a lot of energy into documenting what she's doing. I, by contrast, got behind on my blog a week into the US tour and haven't caught up yet, so I have to admire her efficiency. One member of our party of four is here just to take pictures. Lorelei gets video of every show - but the documentation doesn't stop at the edge of the stage. If you are on tour with Lorelei, your breakfast will end up on Facebook.
So will you.

Thursday afternoon, while the others head up into town, I opt to explore a leafy green path along the Water of Leith towards our host's house. At the end of the [...]

Visiting Graham and Barbara Dean. We stopped in at the Thursday night Hootenanny at the Guthrie Center - otherwise known as the deconsecrated church where Alice Brock lived, and where Arlo Guthrie had the Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat.

Small folk venues are one of those things that are the same but completely different between the US and the UK. In both places there are concert series run by dedicated volunteers in community spaces, featuring a mix of local artists and national touring acts. The audiences are attentive and passionate about acoustic music. The main difference is what the audience is drinking.